One of the game-day rules for the Bears and Ravens -- and I would imagine any mentally tough team -- is that there are no long sleeves allowed under your jersey. That reinforces a mentally tough state of mind and it also is used as an intimidator to the opposing team, like a gorilla pounding on his chest in jungle saying "look at me I don't need sleeves in the cold."

Trust me players take note.

The offensive players didn't have these pacts, and we would respect the guys that followed suit with the defense. We would often make fun of receivers, especially because they were the culprits that would usually wear sleeves in the cold. After that first touchdown catch we would give them a pass though.

He also says that when he was a younger player, he tried wearing a turtle neck. It made no difference: "I figured I would throw on a long-sleeve turtleneck and put on some long johns to get me through this one. Let's just say it didn't work and I never did that again."

We've looked for other players talking about wearing (or not wearing) sleeves, and it largely seems to come down to being a tough guy. It's basically peer pressure. You don't want to be that guy out there who needs sleeves.

Green Bay rookie left tackle David Bakhtiari was asked why he wouldn't wear sleeves. His answer: "It's kind of like the norm. That's the best way to describe it." He's thought about it from time to time, but always decided, "You don't wear sleeves."

In 2011, though, the head trainer for the Steelers disputed the tough-guy theory, saying, "Everyone thinks it's a macho thing when the linemen don't wear sleeves, but it's not - if you've got sleeves, you're giving the opponent something to grab, so they just stick with the skin cream."

Green Back running back Eddie Lacy told ESPN, "I just feel like if I had sleeves, I might fumble or something like that ... I'm just staying with no sleeves. I'm comfortable that way."

Regardless of the reason, these guys get cold. So they have their own ways of dealing with the extreme weather. They create blends of products they rub on their skin. Here's Ayanbadejo again:

What allowed me to wear so little in cold games was a cocktail Brian Urlacher and Muhsin Muhammad revealed to me. There is a cream called Warm Skin that we would mix with Vaseline and Tiger Balm.

We would mix all these topicals together and rub them into our arms, legs, back … pretty much over our entire body. Make sure you put your jock on before you do this or you will get extremely uncomfortably hot in some of the wrong places.

They also deal with cold in a more natural way: Running around. Football is an active sport, and the more guys are running around, sweating, staying active, the less they notice the cold.

If that fails, if say, they're not in the game all that much, there's other ways to stay warm: Winter hats, heaters on the sidelines, soup, hot cocoa, and big furry parkas. All of those things work best, though, after you've been running around for a bit.

But, let's just say you're not an insane person. You're not scared to wear sleeves. What happens to you? You'll probably get crap from some teammates. But at least you won't freeze to death.